India's Wipro misses fourth-quarter profit estimates

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian software services exporter Wipro Ltd missed analyst estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, partly hurt by a rise in expenses and forecast weak growth at its biggest business segment.

The Bengaluru-based company, which competes with larger rivals Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd, said it expected first quarter revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2.05 billion to $2.09 billion.

The lower end of that forecast translates in a drop of 1 percent sequentially, the company said.

“Although the first quarter is seasonally weak, the forecast given by the company is softer than expected,” said Harit Shah, analyst at Reliance Securities in Mumbai.

Shah was expecting revenue in the IT services segment to be in the range of flat to up 2 percent.

Net profit in the quarter rose to 24.84 billion rupees ($356.54 million) in the three months to March 31, from 18.03 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.

However, the company missed analyst estimates of 25.70 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

Revenue from its mainstay IT services business grew 11.1 percent over the year, driving the Bengaluru-based company’s total revenue to 150.38 billion rupees from 138.24 billion rupees last year.

Earlier in the day, Wipro said some of its employee accounts may have been hacked due to an advanced phishing campaign without revealing which clients had been affected.

The company also said it will buy back shares worth up to 105 billion rupees.

Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Ltd reported results on Friday, saying they expect continued strong growth in the new financial year after posting strong fourth-quarter numbers.

Wipro’s shares closed down 2.4 percent at 280.9 rupees ahead of the results.

Reporting by Arnab Paul and Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich